Bannister v. General Motors of Canada Ltd.

• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Date: 21 May 1998
• Citation: (1998), 112 O.A.C. 188 (CA)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ontario)

Bannister v. GMAC (1998), 112 O.A.C. 188 (CA)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [1998] O.A.C. TBEd. SE.009

Alan Bannister (plaintiff/respondent) v. General Motors of Canada Limited (defendant/appellant)

(C20511)

Indexed As: Bannister v. General Motors of Canada Ltd.

Ontario Court of Appeal

Finlayson and Carthy, JJ.A., and Then, J.(ad hoc)

August 27, 1998.

Summary:

The plaintiff's employment was terminated because of allegations by fellow employees that the plaintiff had sexually harassed them. The plaintiff sued his employer for damages for wrongful dismissal.

The Ontario Court (General Division) allowed the action. The employer appealed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, set aside the trial judgment and dismissed the action.

Master and Servant - Topic 7574

Dismissal of employees - Grounds - Sexual harassment - The plaintiff was a senior employee in the security department at a General Motors plant - He was dis­missed because of allegations of sexual harassment of employees - The plaintiff sued his em­ployer for damages for wrong­ful dismissal - The trial judge allowed the action - The Ontario Court of Appeal set aside the decision and dismissed the action - The trial judge erred in failing to pro­perly assess credibility, in failing to con­sider facts ascertained subsequent to the plain­tiff's termination, in concluding that the plaintiff's conduct had to be persistent and repeated to constitute sexual harass­ment and in overlooking the plaintiff's role as supervisor.

Cases Noticed:

Janzen and Govereau v. Pharos Restaurant and Grammas et al., [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1252; 95 N.R. 81; 58 Man.R.(2d) 1, refd to. [para. 1].

Janzen v. Platy Enterprises - see Janzen and Govereau v. Pharos Restaurant and Grammas et al.

Brennan v. Canada and Robichaud, [1987] 2 S.C.R. 84; 75 N.R. 303, refd to. [para. 20].

Robichaud v. Canada (Treasury Board) - see Brennan v. Canada and Robichaud.

Lake Ontario Portland Cement v. Groner, [1969] S.C.R. 553, refd to. [para. 27].

Counsel:

J. Brett Ledger, Deborah Glendinning and Laura Fric, for the appellant;

Robert B. Reid and Michael McLachlan, for the respondent.

This appeal was heard on May 21, 1998, before Finlayson and Carthy, JJ.A., and Then, J.(ad hoc), of the Ontario Court of Appeal. The following decision was delivered for the court by Carthy, J.A., and released on August 27, 1998.